Dandy is an overhead maze shooter for up to four players, created by John Palevich for the Atari Program Exchange in 1983. It is the precursor to Gauntlet, Dark Chambers, and a whole host of other games.
Tag Archives: maze
Boulder Dash, Atari 8-bit
Peter Liepa and Chris Gray‘s classic Boulder Dash was first released for the Atari 8-bit in 1984 (the Commodore 64 version came later).
Boulder Dash is one of those games that is very simple, but also very clever. Not to mention: extremely devious. In some levels, if you put a foot wrong, you’re toast and must re-start.
Spindizzy, Atari 8-bit
Paul Shirley‘s classic isometric puzzle/adventure game, Spindizzy, originated on the Commodore 64, but is also quite excellent on the Atari 800.
Haunted Hedges, ZX Spectrum
Haunted Hedges is Derek Brewster‘s early ZX Spectrum ‘adaptation’ of Pac-Man, released by Micromega in 1983.
Bounder, Commodore 64
Back in 1985 Bounder was a fresh idea, like a bolt out of the blue to gamers… It’s an overhead ball/maze game where the maze is miles above the ground, and the idea is to make sure the ball bounces on the platforms of the maze, and not in the air.
Bubble Ghost, Amstrad CPC
I’m a big fan of the game Bubble Ghost and this Amstrad CPC conversion is up there with the best of the 8-bit versions.
Bobby Bearing, ZX Spectrum
Bobby Bearing is an interesting isometric action game on the ZX Spectrum, published by The Edge in 1986.
You play as Bobby – a ball bearing – and must roll around the large, colourful maze, looking for and rescuing his four lost brothers and one cousin.
Bomberman ’94, PC Engine
Bomberman ’94 says “copyright 1993” on the title screen, and it came out in December 1993 in Japan, so just made it out before the turn of the year. And it’s a classic in the Bomberman series.
Antics, ZX Spectrum
This 1983 sequel to Bug-Byte‘s The Birds and the Bees is a simplistic maze game, but with excellent controls as you control a bee (with plenty of inertia), on the lookout for a kidnapped friend (kidnapped by ants, no less).
Combat, Atari 2600
Combat was designed by Atari, Inc. and first released for the Atari 2600 in 1977 and was the pack-in game for the system until 1982 (meaning: you got a Combat cartridge with the console, upon purchase).
It was one of the first home video games I ever played (probably the same for millions of others) and it enthralled me. Yes, Combat is very simple by today’s standards, but in 1977 it was a revelation and was much cloned by other developers.
The King of Grabs 